{"id":974,"date":"2010-03-12T08:37:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T08:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/?p=974"},"modified":"2010-03-12T15:37:48","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T15:37:48","slug":"us-green-watchdog-backs-worker-role-in-inspections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/2010\/03\/12\/us-green-watchdog-backs-worker-role-in-inspections\/","title":{"rendered":"US green watchdog backs worker role in inspections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US government\u2019s environmental watchdog has accepted workers and union reps should be allowed to participate in official workplace safety inspections conducted under the Clean Air Act, according to a report in the March issue of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lhsfna.org\/index.cfm?objectID=018F8E68-D56F-E6FA-97825843C8A164FF&amp;source=newsletter\">Life Lines<\/a>, the newsletter of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lhsfna.org\/index.cfm\">Laborers\u2019 Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA).<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The clarification came when the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/\">Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> (EPA) agreed to take steps to institutionalise worker and union involvement in workplace inspections conducted in workplaces using extremely hazardous substances.\u00a0The move<a href=\"http:\/\/www.njwec.org\/PDF\/Press\/EPA_WPC_PressReleaseNJ_I.pdf\"> was prompted by a letter to EPA<\/a> initiated by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.njwec.org\/index.cfm\">New Jersey Work Environment Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe old procedure was a remnant of the last Administration\u2019s policy,\u201d said Terence M O\u2019Sullivan, president of the laborers\u2019 union LIUNA. O\u2019Sullivan co-signed the letter, along with a host of labour, environmental, health, occupational safety and health and advocacy organisations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a positive sign that the EPA acted immediately to correct the problem after we pointed it out,\u201d said O\u2019Sullivan. \u201cNow, in chemical facilities where Laborers work, we expect the agency to make sure our members and business agents have the same opportunity to offer safety and health suggestions and help evaluate corrective measures as does management.\u00a0Not only will this enhance our members\u2019 safety, it will help protect people who live or work near these facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US government\u2019s environmental watchdog has accepted workers and union reps should be allowed to participate in official workplace safety inspections conducted under the Clean Air Act, according to a report in the March issue of Life Lines, the newsletter of the Laborers\u2019 Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA). The clarification came when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[174,171,172,7,173],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":983,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions\/983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}